Diabetic Retinopathy: Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Everything You Need to Know About This Eye Complication

Diabetic retinopathy causes no symptoms or only mild vision problems, but can eventually lead to complete blindness

Diabetic retinopathy is a diabetes complication that affects the eyes and is caused by damage to the blood vessels of the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, known as the retina. At first, diabetic retinopathy causes no symptoms or only mild vision problems, but eventually it can lead to complete blindness. Diabetic retinopathy can develop in anyone with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The longer you have diabetes, the less your blood sugar is under control and the more likely you are to develop this eye complication.

You may not have symptoms in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy, but as the condition progresses, these are the symptoms that may show up:

Blurred vision
Spots: Sometimes they also appear as dark floating threads that obscure your vision
Fluctuating Visibility
Dark or empty areas in your view
Loss of sight

Here are the two types of diabetic retinopathy:

Early Diabetic Retinopathy: The most common form of diabetic retinopathy is called nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), in which the new blood vessels stop growing. In this condition, the walls of the blood vessels in the retina weaken and small bulges protrude from the walls of the smaller blood vessels. Sometimes fluid or blood also leaks through these blood vessels into the retina. NPDR can progress from mild to severe as the number of blocked blood vessels increases.

Advanced Diabetic Retinopathy: A more serious condition of diabetic retinopathy is known as proliferative diabetic retinopathy. In this situation, the damaged blood vessels close off, causing new, abnormal blood vessels to grow in the retina, which can further leak into the clear, jelly-like substance that fills the center of your eye. If the new blood vessels obstruct the normal flow of fluid out of the eye, a lot of pressure can be placed on the eyeball. The buildup can damage the nerve (optic nerve), which is responsible for carrying images from your eye to your brain, leading to glaucoma.